Capturing screen video.

[thatsteve]

Hello. I'd like to capture as video files, with audio, what I'm doing on one of my vintage machines (spec: OS9, PowerMac 9600, 400Mhz G3, 1GB RAM), does anyone have any insight on achieving this?

I tried CameraMan 3.0 but the resulting video was very choppy, only seemed to capture a couple of frames a second, which is no good, I want seamless playback! Am I doing something wrong or is that not possible with software? My screen resolution is high, can't remember exactly what but maybe 1960 by 1080 or something. I haven't thought to try a lower screen resolution until just this second, so I'll do that later.

I do have a Media100 PCI board and breakout box, acquired some time ago on a whim and not used by me, yet. Might this hardware be a better option? Can I hook this card up to the same PowerMac I want to record and output the video from the graphics card's S-Video to the breakout box and capture it? What about audio? I have an M-Audio Revolution sound card kicking around, is that Mac compatible? Can I output the Mac's audio from it to the Media100? I have a Medea SCSI tower with 4 drives in it with 250GB storage so not concerned about running out of hard drive space capturing high quality and long (maybe 10 to 15 minute) videos.

Any advice gratefully received, I'm working blind here, have absolutely zero experience or knowledge of video production on this era of Macintosh!

 

[register]

Consider to try the screen capture software Snapz Pro from Ambrosia Software. Versions for Mac OS 9 should be available on request, still. Version 2.0 with QuickTime Movie capture will be sufficient for your computer (Snapz Pro _without_ »X«, of course).

 

[thatsteve]

Thanks. I've just given Snapz Pro a go and it's just as bad as CameraMan, worse actually. Have lowered screen resolution and colours (to thousands from millions) and it causes the whole computer to slow down massively as soon as recording starts. I even changed the scratch disk to the Medea tower to see if that made a difference, alas no. Balls.

 

[thatsteve]

Been tinkering with Snapz Pro some more, went down to 256 colours and 640x480 resolution, the smallest I could select, and it's still not capturing properly, just killing the computer.

Is there any way to capture the 9600's video using my MacBook Pro or G5 tower?

 

[Charlieman]

Think in analogue...

I reckon you need two video cards: one for the Mac video and one for TV out. Install a second PCI graphics card with TV output as an option. Temporarily put a TV on the TV out. Remember this is 4:3 ratio NTSC/PAL/SECAM output. Set the Mac desktop to mirror on the second monitor (TV out) and experiment with resolutions. Experiment with cables of different length until you get something you like on the TV. Unplug TV and loop back to the Media100 card. 

Conduct a similar exercise for sound out using the Mac's built-in port. Record onto cassette or similar. If you're brave, try looping back to a PCI Mac sound card. For beeps and squeaks, any Mac model should be good enough. 

ATI made a few video cards with S-video out. 

Consider how you are reading and writing data. The Media100 software will need exclusive access to a fast SCSI drive.

 

[NJRoadfan]

There are VGA capture solutions for modern machines that might work. Thing is most require PCs due to the lack of Mac software.

 

[Cory5412]

Specifically, something like this should work, and will give you the best quality and the ability to capture video more than 640x480 or 512x384. (You could put 800x600 on an NTSC video tape, but it wouldn't look very good.)

As Charlieman pointed out, you may want to use two video cards so that you can  mirror the screen for the best performance while working, and of course you will need a modern computer to do the capture. It should work well if your MacBook Pro is form 2011 or newer and if you boot into Windows with it. (It'll be the best with a model from 2012 or newer with USB 3.0.)

There's also this, which has information about a device that'll work with Mac OS X.

Previously, I have recorded my Pismo's display onto a MiniDV tape using a Canon GL-2's S-Video input. It was okay, but the image was sort of fuzzy and although it might work for a game Let's Play, it wouldn't work super well if you wanted to show off anything more involved that benefits from a higher resolution.

The advantage of a tape over just feeding a Mac's video output into its input area is that you get the full performance of your 9600 for whatever you want to record, and you can later capture the tape with whatever suitable system.

 

[Charlieman]

I find this an interesting exercise. I think it can be implemented easily using cheap PC/Windows kit (10 years old) as a capture device for the PowerMac. But I'm more adventurous; I'd like more ideas about how you would perform the capture using contemporary (ie pre- or early-OS X) Mac kit. Cory's trick using a camera as a bridge device is a neat solution.

 

[Cory5412]

The real "trick" was finding anything remotely interesting to do in 640x480. The only reason it even happened was because I happened to have a GL2 on hand and I was a bored college freshman. The main reason it worked is because the computer doesn't have to do both the capturing and whatever work you want to capture at the same time.

Even then, it doesn't really look very good. Here's my recording. (Anything else you see on my channel, you've done at your own risk. I'm exceedingly boring on camera.)

Mac OS X 10.6 or newer introduced screen recording. I've tried that, too. It's okay and modern Macs are fast enough to do it without too much effort. I haven't tried any really long screen records, so I'm not 100% sure what would happen if you started recording and let it run for a long time.

 

[Charlieman]

Even then, it doesn't really look very good. Here's my recording. 

Not great, more proof of concept. It looks as bad as some of my own experiments at displaying a Mac or Windows desktop on a TV. More or less quoting a report I wrote in the early 2000s: "Anyone who thinks that this is acceptable should book an appointment at Specsavers."

Some people managed to integrate Mac video output (other than QuickTime) into their presentations. Can anyone find good samples? Ones where the creator explains the hardware and software used? But you have to accept that TV and computer graphics have different qualities and limitations.